‘Time running low for Masood’ - LA Times

Military gains by the Taliban movement in the current campaign of fighting have officials in the US and Russia worried that the conflict in Afghanistan may have reached a turning point, both politically and militarily, the ‘Los Angeles Times’ reported on Monday. The opposition Northern Alliance (or United National Islamic Front for the Salvation on Afghanistan), cut off from supply lines in Central Asia, now has only about a month “to reclaim enough territory to remain a viable political or military force before winter weather isolates its troops,” it said. The Northern Alliance of Ahmed Shah Masood was not finished yet, but had so far been unable to recoup territorial losses as it did after summer offensives over the past five years, according to US officials cited by the paper. The difference this time was Pakistan’s military assistance to the Taliban, vehemently denied by both, the report quoted US intelligence reports as saying. The Taliban has recently launched a major diplomatic offensive in the world’s capitals to turn its control of 95 percent of Afghanistan into international recognition of its right to govern. The Afghan seat at the United Nations is still held by deposed president Burhanuddin Rabbani.